Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Rothene]

Reaching the top of the Dauntless, Mireille sat next to Zach and asked, "So is there a lesson on spellcraft going on? Am I too late? Is it meant to be private?"

[Eail]

"Really.... affecting my Overcast that much... I have to admit that I'm interested in learning it Kit." Zach mused... actually very interested in what Kit was offering. Mireille and Tia were now ontop of the wagon with them as well now, seems like they wanted to learn too.

"I don't think either of you can handle this kind of thing to be honest. Miri you have the potential but not the experience to handle something like this, Tia you're too young, sapping your body the way you have to do this might be a really bad idea."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Thanks for the advice," she replied to Pete simply. Maybe we're less likely to be found on a side road as opposed to the main room- but we need to resupply within the city. she pondered to herself.

Nadya

"Once we're done assemblin' the poles, we cross 'em, hook 'em together, stick the fabric over it, and stake it to the ground. Have ya always slept on a bedroll while travelin'? Sounds unpleasant on rainy nights," Nadya quipped to Shadrak.

[Snowy_One]

"Hey!" said Tia as she shot a sudden glare at Zach. "I am just as skilled and capable a mage as you. I may be younger, but that doesn't mean I'm somehow inferior to you just based on age alone. If I can't learn this because I'm too young, neither can you. Plain and simple. Besides... My body my choice..."

[Ether]

"Welll... I wouldn't call it a lesson, really. I'll teach him because I owe him something, at the least... but my methods aren't what most would call standard faire... I suppose the simplest way to put it is that I'm going to brute force it." Kit replied, as suddenly a crowd appeared at the mere mention of magic training... strange.

Around the same time, it seems that the invisible woman had taken her up on the offer to appreciate Kit's tails, with one of them being gently toyed around with. Her touch was given enough ease that there were no real issues, so long as she didn't start acting like some sort of rabid child or something.

"But we can work the finite details out later on... I'll need some peace and seclusion for this so we'll take care of it when after you people are settled down for the night."

***

Luckily enough, it seemed there was, in-fact, a stream relatively close by, and decently out of sight from the camp. Stripping off the remnants of the outfit she had been wearing, Arietta opted to quickly wash the battle's proofs away... the water cold against her skin... not that she wasn't expecting it, but why couldn't nature have warmer streams?

Oh well, it was better than the caked on blood and ash that was the alternative, so keeping her maul within grabbing and swinging distance, and a cautious eye, Arietta hoped to finish as swiftly as possible.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Ether

[roymbrog]

“I can ask him in a bit,” Katrina told Robin, climbing off her wyvern. “Why don’t you go ask Aneda if she’d be willing to help out first? I’m going to take some of these bags off Volga so we can carry more.”

[Eail]

"Really, even with me, I could explain all the ways that isn't possible but lets just move on. If we arent gonna do this right now I'm gonna go see if I can't help out somewhere else, I'll see you tonight though Kit." Zach gave a two finger salute before hoping off the roof. Wandering over to Katrina "So... whats up?"

[roymbrog]

Katrina had just taken off the first saddlebag when Zach came over on his own. “Oh hey, I was just talking about you~. Robin and I were going to try to catch a few things for dinner, and were wondering if you wanted to help? Your magic would be helpful. We were gonna ask Aneda too, so that we have more mounts to bring meat back.”

[Rothene]

Mireille sighed, disappointed at having wasted her time. Heading back into the Dauntless to resume tome sorting, Mireille thought over her skills in magic. She knew theories, but putting them to practice was equally important.

"Connor, I'm back," Mireille said as she sat down to sort through the remaining tomes.

[Snowy_One]

"Yes, Zach." said Robin, her eyes locking onto Zach as he approached. She hadn't forgotten their little fight, but if he was willing to talk and not be a male reproductive organ to her... "We were going to go hunting and having the aid of magic would be very useful. Lightning in particular. If you want to help us hunt, we would be grateful."

---

Tia looked at Kit, somewhat disappointed as Zach left. "Did I say something wrong? If so I'm sorry. I just really want to learn more about magic and I'm not about to let someone talk down to me because I'm younger than them. I'm willing to show I'm a capable mage if that's what you doubt."

Edited May 29, 2013 by Snowy_One

[ReformBlade]

"Aren't they, though?" said the rider with a rather amused tone in her voice, obviously pleased with how this was turning out given previous events. Her eyes wandered to ground level and noticed that people were doing... things. She couldn't tell what but really couldn't care exactly what at the moment and turned her attention back towards Hannah and Star Hunter.

It wasn't until a while later that Mushirah had brought back a great pile of burnable wood, gently floating it in front of her in a slight daze and plopping it down near, but not near enough to the fire to be a danger to anyone. Sighing in relief, Mushirah fell on her rear end and held her head in her hands again, rubbing her forehead. "Well that's done..." she mumbled out loud, wishing her head would stop aching.

[Phoenix]

Camp Outskirts

A whip? Was that Gytha's nickname among pirates? Probably a good idea to commit that one to memory. No one else could be trusted to do so since this was something she was to keep between herself and Gytha. She kept repeating the name in her head a couple of dozen times while imagining a faceless man beating down a whip with a miniature version of Gytha's head on each tip. It was still making the expected whipping noises as the tiny Gytha heads smiled and cackled mischievously. At the very least, it shouldn't be too difficult to remember ...

"Okay, let's head back then before someone starts to worry," Raquel suggested, taking her first steps back in that direction.

Camp

While Reign continued helping with the tent challenge, Gabbie sat back down against Ringo's side and relaxed. She could tell at this rate it was going to be awhile before anyone without rations was going to be able to eat. That was when she remembered that she was out of her. "Urgh ..." Temptation to fly all the way back to Sergio and stock up was there, but perhaps this hunting group she was hearing about would come through. On second thought, maybe flying back on her own wasn't such a bad idea. At the pace the Dauntless moved at, she could easily put herself up in a nice inn, stock up, and catch up in a couple of days. While fantasizing about this, Reign's earlier comment about her guarding Connor so that he didn't so much as stub a toe came to mind and she scowled. For one, she wasn't going to go on a miniature vacation while still needing to keep Connor safe, but on the other, the enemy was virtually never after him anyway.

Meanwhile, atop the Dauntless, Ayano continued to inspect one of Kit's tails while ignoring the mages who seemed to be coming and going. "Why do you have nine of these?" she quietly asked.

[Eail]

"I'll help if you want me to I suppose. I'm guessing that Robin and I each take a rider with us to track down the game and bring it back? Whose gonna ride with who though, Volga might move slower and give me an easier time pathing, but I could manage on Hannah's back as well." Zach said with a shrug as the hunting topic was brought up.

[Mercakete]

Gytha nodded in agreement and soon the two women were back in camp.

Norbert, meanwhile, had made his way into the Dauntless and grabbed a small trough. Once he'd set that up outside, he reentered and began looking for a barrel of water rations. Though it wasn't terribly hard to find, it was pretty heavy. Soon, though, that was rolled outside and slid next to the trough. The last item to be retrieved was the easiest to carry yet: a simple bucket. After he'd popped the lid off of the barrel, he scooped out some water into the bucket then dumped it into the trough. This repeated a few times before taking a final bucket-full, securing the lid back onto the barrel and taking a rag out of Rizen's saddlebags. The pegasus was already drinking from the trough, so Norbert put the bucket and rag off to the side and began to remove her tack and armor. He'd wash the blood off after she had a good brushing. So, while Rizen quenched her thirst, her rider went to work brushing her down.

[Snowy_One]

"You are not as experienced in the hunt and your magic would be best used to flank. If Hannah is the other mount I would suggest Zach ride her. The extra mobility will allow him to get into flanking positions. Zach. Listen carefully. Your goal is to keep any deer heard we find tight and together with flashes of lightning. It is not to kill them. Leave that to me so we do not end up with charred or broiled meat. Understand?"

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"That was quick. Learn anything interesting?" he asked Mireille, looking up from his work.

Nadya

Nadya and company finished assembling the poles as she began to stake down the corners of the tent.

[Rothene]

"No, apparently Kit wanted to hold a private lesson, so no wisdom was shared," replied Mireille shaking her head.

Taking another tome to browse through, Mireille smirked, "Well, perhaps you might have judged that foxed tailed lady correctly. I cannot respect people who are protective or stingy about knowledge."

[Ether]

Well, that was a... different question.

"Most people ask why I have any at all... I think you're the first to ask why nine in particular." Kit responded to the invisible woman, as her tails continued to be inspected.

"There isn't really much of an answer, to be honest. When all was said and done, there were nine of them, and there was no reason for any more. The process of finalizing the procedure took nine to complete, so those were all completed, but there wasn't any reason for more... besides, I feel nine is a nice number for something like this." Kit continued, speaking softly so as to not project that tidbit any further than necessary, before bringing herself through the hole in the roof into the wagon, careful not to cause any aggregations with the captive tail. It seemed some misconceptions were floating about in this place.

"I'll have you know I'm not being stingy or protective." The fox-woman noted to Mireille, who had gone back to tomes.

"It is as I said... I'm not a teacher with some sort of degree... I can impart knowledge, but not in the usual sense... when I said I was going to brute force it, I wasn't joking around... if I teach something, it's by forcing the knowledge directly into their head... it's not something most people are comfortable with... I don't think Sparky even has a clue what's he's getting into."

[Rothene]

"I see. My mistake then," Mireille remarked without looking up from her task, "So, was that how you learned magic then? Someone else imparted the knowledge directly into your mind?"

[Ether]

"I mostly just figured it out as a went. More advanced stuff took some reference material, but I wouldn't know how to go about teaching it to someone else aside from telling them to read about it and try to make it work." Kit replied.

[Rothene]

"Reading, reference materials. Now those are terms I am very familiar with." Placing a tome down, Mireille turned around to face Kit asking, "I presume you have some written material you carry with you. Perhaps some that detail on this amplification of magic you speak off? Not wanting to boast here, but I am proficient in learning on my own when materials and perhaps some experience from others are provided."

.

[Ether]

"I have some back at home, but I don't carry them with me. I prefer to travel light." Kit replied, sitting down near the invisible woman.

"It's pretty easy for Zach, though. He already has a basic understanding of the processes required... I'm mostly just going to refine his knowledge. He might have something remaining from when he was learning, I suppose. If you're looking for things on your own, the technique is commonly referred to as 'Overcasting'." Kit continued.

[Rothene]

"I will keep that in mind..." Mireille muttered stroking her chin. Clenching her fist, Mireille pondered on this Overcast technique widely used by the mages...and the variation used by some of the mages, the type where they empower others at the cost of health.

Subconsciously, the Ursian knight reached into her pouch to flip through some of her notes. She had gathered notes from various mages at the university, and more from Ranyin back before he left the group of both variations of the skill. Does the theories she had studied allow her to actually use the skill? She had yet to test it, but from the descriptions, it seemed similar to when she channeled magic into her lance.

But the lance was designed to function specifically from magic, channeling magic into flesh for mystical might and drawing from muscles to empower magic was another new field.

"Miss Kit, back when you first practiced the Overcast, did you require a mentor or senior to watch over you to ensure you did not injure yourself too much?" Mireille asked, with a hint of respect in her tone when addressing Kit.

[Ether]

"I suppose that might have been helpful, but I didn't have anyone like that." Kit replied, shaking her head.

"If I was injured, I would simply apply a salve and try to figure out what I did wrong. Every failure brings you closer to success, so embrace your failures and run with them. Especially in a group like this with multiple people proficient in the use of staves, so long as you don't manage to outright kill yourself, there isn't really a degree of damage you can do that they can't fix."

[Rothene]

"Well, I suppose it is no different from learning to ride a horse. You fall and get hurt often at first. Maybe break a rib but nothing healers cannot handle," Mireille remarked. "I always had the impression that the Overcast technique could draw upon somethings that are harder to heal. More terminal injuries or what not due to the power that it can achieve like in those records of reckless mages sacrificing themselves to weave spells of great power in times of war."

In times we still live in.